The present inventive concept relates to semiconductor device fabrication or the like. More particularly, the inventive concept relates to processes for use in and a method of manufacturing articles, such as reticles, using beams of energy.
Semiconductor devices are generally fabricated on a wafer by a plurality of unit processes such as a thin film deposition process, a photolithography process, an etch process, etc. The photolithography process is employed to transcribe a pattern of a photomask (sometimes referred to in the art as a reticle) onto the wafer. The photolithography process is performed by an exposure apparatus including an I-line, G-line, KrF, or ArF light source. A photosensitive layer, namely, a layer of photoresist, is formed on the wafer, and light emitted from the light source is transmitted onto the layer of photoresist through the photomask in an exposure process. In this case, an image of the pattern of the photomask is transferred to the layer of photoresist. The layer of photoresist is then developed to remove the exposed or non-exposed portion of the layer such that the resulting layer of photoresist bears a pattern corresponding to that of the photomask.
The mask pattern, i.e., the pattern of the photomask itself, is formed by a similar method. In this case, though, an electron beam is typically used in an exposure process of forming the mask pattern.